On October 18th, I will be talking about Ukraine, its complicated place and my book, The Rooster House, during the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023, the largest book fair in the world.

Ukrainian Collective Stand/ Hall:4.1. Stand: B

16:00-17:00
The Rooster House: My Ukrainian Family Story
Victoria Belim (Writer, journalist, translator, and fragrance specialist). Moderator: Kyrylo Beskorovainyi (Co-founder of Kunsht).

Ukrainian Book Institute, Goethe-Institut, U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt

In 2014, the landmarks of Victoria Belim’s personal geography were plunged into tumult at the hands of Russia. Her hometown, Kyiv, was gripped by protests and violence. Crimea, where she’d once been sent to school to avoid radiation from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, was invaded. Kharkiv, where her grandmother Valentina studied economics and fell in love; Donetsk, where her father once worked; and Mariupol, where she and her mother bought a cherry tree for Valentina’s garden, all became battlegrounds. Victoria, by then a naturalized American citizen then living in Brussels, felt she had to go back. She had to spend time with her aging grandmother and her cousin Dmytro. She had to unravel a family mystery spanning several generations. And she needed to understand how her country’s tragic history of communist revolution, civil war, famine, world war, totalitarianism, and fraught independence had changed the course of their lives. A young woman’s quest to uncover her family’s difficult past reveals broader truths about the present conflict. Victoria Belim’s memoir is a personal history of her family’s turbulent past and a celebration of Ukrainian identity.

The German translation was published as “Rote Sirenen. Die Geschichte meiner ukrainischen Familie“ with Aufbau Verlag.
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If you’ve ever wondered what “solar musk,” “lunar petals” or “electric vanilla” smell like, you aren’t alone. Fragrance marketing lingo is in a world of its own, and I have given up trying to find the logic behind the use of terms that nobody, not even professionals, can untangle. A list of notes describes a perfume’s smell as well as an enumeration of pigments captures Mona Lisa’s smile. While notes can suggest whether a fragrance is predominantly floral, leathery or spicy, they can also be misleading.

One example is “pink berries.” The name hints at the scent of strawberries or raspberries, but instead, “pink berries” is a literal translation of baies roses, French for “pink pepper.” The rose colored berry of the shrub Schinus molle is unrelated to the black pepper plant, but it has a spicy, sharp scent reminiscent of crushed peppercorns with a touch of violet. Its presence in perfumes is confined to the top notes where it reveals its fiery temperament, but pink pepper’s piquancy is without bite. It softens readily, allowing the subsequent layers to shine, be they flowers or woods.

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Today have a generous giveaway courtesy of Bois de Jasmin’s reader John. He would like to give away a nearly full bottle of Serge Lutens La Myrrhe, 75ml (my photo is for illustration only, you will receive a bottle that is 95% full.)

John would like your help to find a new fragrance for his partner. Please see his question below. John is Germany and he can send his package anywhere, as long as you take care of customs charges.

We are not responsible for leaks or damage during transit, customs fees, or for lost packages.

To participate, please answer these questions. I will randomly draw one winner.

1. Please suggest a new perfume to John. “I hope that La Myrrhe will find a good new home. For me, the big project now is to find a new perfume for my partner of many years. He likes woods, spices and citrus. His favorite fragrances are colognes like Guerlain, Atelier Cologne, Christian Dior, but he also likes Diptyque Tam Dao and Frédéric Malle L’Eau d’Hiver. He’s also been helping himself to my bottle of Serge Lutens Cuir Mauresque, so you can tell that his tastes are all over the place. I would appreciate some guidance from this amazing community. Thank you in advance.”
3. May I contact you via email to notify you of your win and share your email with John?

The contest is now closed. The winner is Claire. Congratulations! I will in touch with you shortly.

I would like to thank our entire Bois de Jasmin community for your generosity and kindness, whether it means giveaways like this, advice or comments. 

The colors of Kateryna Bilokur (1900-1961). Born into a peasant family, she learned painting on her own. Her family thought that she brought shame on them by refusing to be “a normal woman”—marry and have children. The Soviet government wanted to showcase that even peasants on Soviet collective farms can do such incredible things, so Bilokur was denied education she sought and a transfer to Kyiv. In 1954, her paintings were praised by Pablo Picasso when he saw them at the international exhibition in Paris. But that praise didn’t materialize into anything significant for Bilokur. She died in poor health a few years later.

Look at these rich colors and the splendor of these flowers. Imagine a place where all flowers bloom at the same time.

Scent Diary is a place to write your observations about the scents around you. Whether you write down 1 recollection or 10 matters less than simply reminding yourself to smell. You can add as many comments as you wish. You can comment today or over the course of the week; this thread will always be open. Of course, do share what perfume you’re wearing or what particularly good scented products you’ve discovered.

While looking through my articles, I found this article that I wrote a few years ago but that still remains popular and often-read: A to Z Tips for Enjoyable, Affordable and Rewarding Perfume Hobby. If you have any tips to add, I’d love to hear them.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Eau de cologne, eau de toilette, eau de parfum, extrait de parfum. What do these terms mean? Open any perfume book, and I guarantee that you will read an explanation that these French words denote different concentrations of fragrant oils in the finished product and a corresponding strength. Some authors might even give you a chart showing that cologne is 2% oil and lasts for only 2 hours, while extrait de parfum is 25% oil and requires a skin graft for complete removal. It sounds convincing until one confronts the truth. Perfume concentrations are a marketing tool and they do not mean anything specific.  The proportion of oil doesn’t play as great a role as the ingredients in the composition. As such, different concentrations denote neither how long a perfume will last nor how many “rare and precious” materials it contains.

Eau de cologne refers to a style of fragrance rich in citrus essences. It is the Cava of the olfactory world, bright and shimmering. Citrus oils are among the most volatile in the perfumer’s palette, and some colognes are indeed evanescent, meant more as an instant boost of freshness rather than a thick veil of aroma.

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